Look, Dan and I have no children. We have no pets. Now that we’re in Colorado we don’t have family around and many of our friends here travel home for the holidays or are busy with out-of-town guests. Though we love the break and the time together, Christmas means loooong spans of time that need filling somehow.

This Christmas Eve was our 7th time baking our lasagna — a process that can kill an entire afternoon if you want it to. And we do.

It can also kill about $100 if your pantry is empty, as ours was when Dan and I started dating. Nowadays we cook more and have things such as tomato paste, nutmeg, and parmesan cheese on hand, so it’s not quite as pricey.

We try to vary our recipe, if only slightly, every year. This year there’s an extra Easter egg hidden inside: we were forced to use a single whole wheat noodle because we ran out of the others.

This year’s lasagna is delicious, as always. Lucky for us, it’s difficult to screw up: meat sauce, noodles, cheese. Repeat until the pan overflows. Reheat for days.